ISCOME Workgroup Manifesto

“The failure to establish effective and appropriate interpersonal communication in the delivery of healthcare is a leading cause of patient harm and loss of life. Thus, communication can be considered the ultimate mediating mechanism of patient safety and quality. Communication is also the ultimate moderator of the association between health goals and health outcomes, and a direct and unique predictor of positive patient outcomes. A high quality communication environment activates effective linkages between goals and outcomes while ineffective communication undermines and deteriorates health and wellbeing. ISCOME™ is a global center that generates and supports transdisciplinary and international workgroup teams of innovative scientists, policy-makers, and front-line experts who are committed to communication-based research and solutions that lower rates of adverse events and improve quality. ISCOME™ is dedicated to increasing awareness of these critical linkages between communication science and patient safety and quality by translating evidence and axioms from communication science to health care, enhancing the research agenda, developing tools for providers, managers and quality improvement practitioners, and ultimately informing policy.

ISCOME™ launched at its 2015 conference this focus on research and improvement to reduce suffering and waste through better use of knowledge from the communication sciences and more timely and actionable research on practical problems with practice personnel.”